What Nordic people think about each other?

they all sound so happy! that's what I like about norweigan but I can't stand finish! sorry all finish people
did you know that swedish is acctually used in RotJ? the ewoks speak a language that is swedish mixed up with fillipean I think... it is said that you can hear one of them say: "det luktar flingor här" or something. although I have never managed it..

 

It's cute, but I usually don't get a word of it...*miffed face* It's seems I lack that gene that gives us the ability to understand Norweigan...

*ponders*

Can we force them to speak Swedish? I mean, after we've conquered their country? ('Cause we are going to, right? I mean, c'mon, we haven't conquered something in a very long time...and we're all mad because they were so good at the Olympics anyway, and I don't get what they're saying...all good reasons to invade!

 

"they all sound so happy! that's what I like about norweigan but I can't stand finish! sorry all finish people"

Now I'm hurt. Norwegians may sound happy but but we Finns ARE happy. I think I even smiled today.

 

Now just learn Icelandic and you can get the most useless language hat-trick

--Joey

 

I do not speak or write very much Norwegian (a significant understatement!). However, I was able to pick out some Icelandic, so I am sure that you would be much better off than I am.

--Joey

 

Woohoo, sure I will be a spy for the rest of Europe on behalf of Nordica...

--Joey

Edited for clarity...what ever that means considering this thread's contents

 

Great! Your first mission, should you choose to accept it, is to tell us who killed JFK.

 

Who's murder will be solved first, JFK's or Palme's?

 

The aliens did it. Just don't tell anyone.

 

It is amazing how much people know about the US.

To give you a contrast, my Geography class had a map of Europe to fill out. The teacher picked a girl in the front row to fill out the transparency of the map that is projected to the rest of the class.

People called out names of countries and she would label them. She did not know where Germany or France was. She knew where Norway was but didn't know in what order Sweden and Finland came.

Forget all the countries like Beligium, Holland, Luxembourg, Switzerland, Austria etc.

Italy lookes like a shoe, so that is what she remembers.

Amazing huh?

--Joey

 

Well Europeans know where are big states like California or Texas but if you ask a European to tell where Maryland or Delaware are you could get strange answers.

Europeans may know more about USA than Americans about Europe but we still have lot to learn.

 

Well some (read me) Europeans know where Delaware and Maryland is. It´s in the east, right?
Maryland lies south of Wasington, I think and Delaware is north of New York, just guessing.
Joey, which state is Springfield in?

 

Maryland is situated on a bit of land just north of NY (the state), and Delaware is close by, I think.
There is more than one springfield in the US, I think.

 

Most Americans do not know where the small states are in the NE. Especially delaware, conneticut and others.

People here are just not plugged in to world culture. This is shocking; The United States is one of the few countries where the ability to speak a foreign language is usually indicative of a lower socio-economic status.

That is opposite of everywhere else in the world. But we do a lot of things opposite of everyone else, English system, NTSC etc.

--Joey

Edit: Leto I assume you are referencing the Simpsons? The joke is that every state has a Springfield. The most well known Springfield is in Illinois, as it is the capital.

 

Hmm.. like what, if I may ask?
Don't take offence, I just would like to know, as the US school system is a point of more than few laughs in Finland -probaply without reason-, and still they go the same ammount of school as those in Finland.

But it may be that your education is more based on some other things, that finnish system dosen't know at all. It would be nice to know

And to end: I read someplace, that the US newspapers are more centered around US than most papers to their homelands. When information from abroad dosen't come in, then the need for information at this field would lessen.
Naturally, when people won't use time in these things, there must be some other subjects to take their time..

But really, don't take offence. I know that my post isin't exacly friendly, but still..

 

Our education system is not the best. However, EVERYONE, even those people that are too dumb to understand anything HAVE to attend up until they are 16. Most people continue until 18 and of those 50% would have been weeded out in other countries that separate the college bound and vocational bound students. Our "honor" students (they are the students in the top 10 percentile), I think, are as good as other countries top 10. We have stupid people lowering our average.

Without a doubt, domestic news comes first here (unless, of course it is something about Afghanistan).

On lacking general knowledge of foreign countries, I am guilty of this as well. For example, until I visited Norway I didn't know what type of government they had. Same for Sweden Finland et al. The only foreign leader in Europe that I knew was Tony Blair.

Our teachers are not paid very well. Ironically, "education" majors (those who hope to be teachers) are actually the lowest gradewise of any major.

An interesting test would be to see if most people here know the difference between Sweden and Switzerland.

As always, if you would like me to clarify a phrase in English, particularly anything colloquial, I am more than happy to do so. I think I may have used phrases that do not come up often in "English-as-a-foreign language class"

--Joey

 

Thanks Joey, I thought there was only one Springfield. And yes, I was thinking about the Simpsons.
I have a friend who´s taking cultural geography lessons at the university. He read a survey about american college students who were asked to point out Cairo, London and Berlin on a map.
The results showed that only a third got all cities right.
I'm not 100% sure but it was something like that.

 

sigh...those are my peers!

We have a teacher from Senegal, apparently no one knew where that was. Meaning, they did not know what continent!

--Joey

 

Ouch...doesn´t it feel uncomfortable to be compared to them?

 

They teach it in school, but few people care. It is mostly because we are so isolated from other [industrial] countries. Canada seems like our 51st state (although I bet most of them would disagree ).

People just seem to not care period. Most Americans would be very lucky to fill in a map of the US.

There are some people (like me) that enjoy history and geography, and those people are the ones that know what the capital of Sweden is (roughly 1 / 20 or so people would get that right).

You will get an inflated opinion of Americans by being on these boards. Star Wars fans, usually, are a cut above academically. But who knows, maybe I am getting an inflated opinion of you all

--Joey